We will have been in France 3 weeks when we start our return flight home. Specifically, we will be in Niort where there is just one TGV (3 Hr. 20m) to get us from Niort to Paris CDG 3 hr before our flight. Is this too much back and forth to have a bit of quality time? A alternative would be to leave for Paris on the preceding day and spend the night before our 2pm flight there. We've been to Paris before so need to "see it all". I'm imagining that the area around CDG is pretty dreary. Correct? Any input would be appreciated.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6527 posts
While three hours before flight is the usual recommended airport arrival time, and TGV service is normally reliable, I wouldn't take the chance on a same-day connection.
If you can get a train the day before into Paris itself, and spend your last night there, you can have some quality time in the city that evening and part of the next morning. It looks like there's frequent fast service between Niort and Gare Montparnasse, and there are many places to stay nearby. You could take Le Bus Direct line 4 the next day to the airport, or spring for a taxi if there are enough of you. No need to hang around the airport, which is pretty dreary, the night and morning before your flight.
Posted by
Chicago
8067 posts
Always be in the city of a high stakes departure the night before. It is far too risky to assume everything will go perfectly on the day of a flight with along distance trip.. FWIW. we were on a Thalys from Amsterdam to Paris a few years ago that came in 5 hours late; many people missed flights out of CDG. It is normally a 3.5 hour trip. Stuff happens and it tends to happen at awkward times.
Posted by
Portland, Maine
2916 posts
Definitely stay in Paris the night before. It's too risky a train trip to do it the day of departure, and I would never stay at an airport hotel, CDG or elsewhere, unless there was absolutely no other alternative. What we've done the last few times we've flown out of CDG is stay in either Plailly or Senlis, both short drives to CDG, and dropped the car off at CDG before the flight. But in each case we had a car already and the towns were on our route back.
Posted by
Florida
509 posts
"A alternative would be to leave for Paris on the preceding day...."
Many of the CDG hotels are clustered by the surprisingly not-dreary village of Roissy-en-France. There are restaurants and the handful of streets are almost charming. Here's the tourism website: http://www.hotels-roissy-tourisme.com/en/
For purposes similar to yours, we stayed at the Marriott in Roissy; adjacent to the village, reliable shuttle (only a few minutes to the terminals), even a decent restaurant. The "accommodations" button on the website provides a list.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6527 posts
I've never been in the town of Roissy, but the last suggestion might be a good alternative if you don't want to deal with Paris on this trip. In that case you could take the TGV from Niort to CDG the day before your flight and spend the intervening time in Roissy, using a hotel shuttle both ways.